American Idol - Final 2

It's my last chance to tell you in detail what I thought about the night's performances. I know you've been hanging on every word of my opinion & will miss it sorely when it's gone Anyway, this is the first time I've enjoyed an AI season this much since the first one, so I'm kinda sad it's over..., but looking forward to Melinda, Blake, & Jordin joining AI's domination of the radiowaves.

Blake 1: I think he actually did this better the first time, but maybe that's 'cuz it was fresh (certainly, I hadn't downloaded and memorized it). I agree with Simon about part of it. He certainly was shouting a bit more than singing, but was concentrating on getting the crowd into it (which obviously he succeeded at).

Jordin 1: Not my fave performance from her, but I disagreed with Simon (gasp) about where the problem was. I didn't like the beginning very much, but thought she didn't do too badly later. I think I feel the same each time she's done a pop song, where it was good, but not really anything spectacular.

Round 1 surprisingly goes to Blake.

Blake 2: Maroon 5 again! (Hint, hint, new album is out today (the 22nd)! I have to wait 'til it's delivered though, 'cuz my b-day was last week and since it was #1 on my Amazon.com list, my parents sent me a note saying it'd be shipped around the 26th), although, this isn't my favorite Maroon 5 song. "Sunday Morning"'s a much better ballad by them, and just as I was deciding that I wasn't too impressed with SWBL, it started being played on the radio 24/7. I liked the way Blake started off on this song, but he seemed to have some problems with the "will" of the chorus (an important note not to mess up).

Jordin 2: I still don't know this song, but it was a good vocal.

Round 2 to Jordin. Not surprising here.

Wonder if Jordin and Blake planned to do the upbeat songs first, & the ballads 2nd.

Blake 3: Poor Blake. He's trying to add something to this song with an attempt to dance and motion to the crowd, but there's not much you can do get the crowd into it. It's not the worst song I've heard for the AI finale..., pretty typical for the end, thematically sound. Blake was okay, but if Jordin has the same song or a similar one, she'll blow him out of the water (I predict). Hey, at least Simon acknowledged the fact that it's not a Blake-type song, that it had to be frustrating for him (you could tell too); he seems fairly forgiving today, i.e. reminding the audience of that and suggesting they judge him on the first two songs.

Jordin 3: As predicted, she was better at this horrible song than Blake.

Last year they gave Katherine and Taylor two different songs, which I think was really unfair. Had Katherine had Taylor's song, she might have won. So it seems crazy that this year they took two singers with incredibly different styles and gave them the same song. Watching that last song for each singer reminds me a lot of watching the first season (there were two songs made for the finale, and they got to sing a song of their choice in between the songs). I think Justin sang "Before Your Love" (an awful song, musically) first, and my sister and I were like "What the heck was that?!" Then Kelly sang it and we knew she had won. She had taken this horrible song and added enough texture to it to make it not sound that bad. Jordin deserves to win AI for being about to take this new song and make it sound not-so-bad.

Wow, Simon gives the individual performance to Blake. I'm impressed. I would have thought he'd choose Jordin's 2nd performance. Simon must really like Blake, which I find surprising based on Simon's reactions in the past.

Woohoo, Daughtry! AI loves me (until their next guest performer, Taylor (sorry, I dislike him)).

P.S. I can listen to Taylor if I don't have to watch him.

Some good performances tonight. Some good funny moments too. I think the highlight for me was Blake & Jordin's song at the beginning though. They were having so much fun. I won't pretend to be overwhelmingly overjoyed OR disappointed by the result. You know I like them both for different reasons, so either is fine with me.

Not the most surprising of outcomes, especially once Blake got a chance to sing (without other Idols) earlier in the show. I haven't watched many of the finales, but the ones I watched have the runner up sing earlier, & in the end the winner sings the AI song. I thought it was nice how they focused on some of the other stars of the season. Melinda, of course. And, yes, Sanjaya is a star of this season, even if it was for weird reasons.